Inflammatory bowel disease: pathogenetic mechanisms

Abstract Significant progress has been made in the understanding of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease over the last decades.Despite this, the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains obscure, especially at molecular level. Various contributing factors have been identified so far, but their respective contributions are not entirely clear cut. In this review, we focus on the genetic and environmental factors linked with IBD pathogenesis. We also explore the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines on the molecular pathophysiology of IBD